Feeding Frustrations

Boy do I miss the easy days of feeding Kyle jarred food...he would eat any and every flavor that we gave him and was very quick and tidy about it. Feeding him now is one big frustrating, long and drawn out challenge/game! If I don't sit right there with him, everything on his tray ends up on the floor (even if I just turn my back for a minute to wash my hands), and when I do sit there with him, he "threatens" me with every bite, as you'll see in the video...

Fun, Busy Weekend!

Saturday night, we had a great visit with the Stango family. We finally got to meet adorable little Andrew and see their GORGEOUS house! As you'll see from the following sequence of photos, Andrew gave Kyle one of his goldfish. Kyle had never had goldfish before but apparently really liked it because he snuck another when Andrew wasn't looking! Then they just hung out, snacking on goldfish and drinking some beers :) Andrew was so good at sharing (and he's only 19 months!). In addition to the goldfish, he also shared all his toys and kept bringing Kyle cars to play with, even "flower power"! Very cute and sweet little fellow, that Andrew.


Then Sunday, after spending most of the day finishing my various Shutterfly projects, we got our Christmas tree. We went to the same farm as last year and continue to be very impressed with their operation, as well as their tree selection. We took a tractor ride up to the highest field (gorgeous view of the sunset up there!) and had lots of great trees to choose from. And it was perfect timing..right after we (Jared) cut the tree down, the tractor circled back and brought us and our tree down the "mountain", where they put the tree on a mechanical "shaker" to get rid of any dead needles/leaves and then put it in netting. Kyle seemed to enjoy the whole experience, especially the tractor ride!

But then it was a very tense 20 minute ride home. I drove while Jared nervously watched our tree through the moonroof the entire time, afraid that he hadn't tied it well and worried it would blow off (like it did on the I-84 overpass a few years ago!). But his knots held and we put it up after Kyle went to bed, and decorated it when Jared got home from work today. Kyle likes looking at it but so far hasn't tried to grab the branches/ornaments...hopefully that continues (for both Kyle and Benson)!

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving! Grammy put on a wonderful spread for us and Nonnie, complete with a delicious turkey from the Jordan Farm! Kyle enjoyed visiting with his grandmothers but wasn't overly interested in the turkey dinner (kind of like his mommy!). He was a very good little boy as usual though, and even took a nap during the meal so we were able to eat (and check out the progress on our new house) uninterrupted.

Then before heading home, we stopped at Jared's cousin's house in Sudbury, so that Kyle could meet some of the extended Berube family. Despite the crowd of new faces, Kyle just happily went about his business, with no signs of "stranger anxiety" (although he did crawl over to Mommy for frequent, but very brief, reassuring hugs).

As usual, Kyle fussed/cried/whined for most of the car rides, although we discovered that if Jared says "Woof Woof" in a loud, deep voice, Kyle totally snaps out of his funk and thinks it's absolutely hysterical! But that only buys us a few seconds of peace, and listening to Jared's "woof woof" isn't much better than listening to Kyle's fussing!

Being parents just gives a whole new meaning to Thanksgiving...we are just so incredibly thankful for our happy, healthy little boy, as well as our wonderful family, friends and life in general. We are truly blessed and are reminded of that every day (not just on Thanksgiving!).

14 Months!

Okay, I've been staring at the screen for a few minutes now and don't have anything exciting to report on the Kyle front, other than that he's the easiest, happiest, BEST little guy in the world and we love him so incredibly much. I think I'll leave it at that and get back to watching the Pats game...

Surprise!

Jared and I had a GREAT day yesterday, all made possible because of a phone call I received while Jared was outside doing yardwork on Saturday. His softball buddy (a season ticket holder) called to offer us two tickets! At first, I told him I'd call him right back, after I went outside to check with Jared. Then the wheels started turning and I thought it would be a great surprise for Jared. First, I called Grammy (who was hiking Mount Wachusett at the time) and confirmed her availability to watch Kyle. Then, I arranged to pick up the tickets, while I was out running errands Saturday night. And finally, I planned out my various "lies" to make it all work!

Jared thought we were heading up to MA to pick out bathroom fixtures for our new house. We dropped Kyle off at Grammy's house and headed out. I had put the tickets in an envelope and wedged it into the map on the passenger side door pocket (I was driving). About 20 minutes into the drive, I asked Jared to look at the map and see how far down our exit was on 495. He pulled out the map and saw the envelope, which had his name spelled wrong (Jarrod) in disguised handwriting so he wouldn't suspect anything. When he opened it, his reaction of confusion/disbelief/excitement was priceless! Totally made my day!! Surprises are so fun when they work, for both the surprisee and especially for the surpriser!!

And of course the game was awesome! It was a great win and AMAZING weather...felt like we were in Miami, not Foxboro!!

Halloween Fun on Lowell Ave!

We had a fun Halloween in Holden yesterday with Nonnie, Grammy, the Carpenters, the Pelletiers, Nance, and Marti! Our first stop of the day was Ottoson Way, to show Nonnie our lot (and now foundation!)...things are really moving along! After a yummy meal at Grammy's, Kyle proudly became the 3rd generation Lowell Ave purple dragon costume trick-or-treater (thanks Evan!). It was a very fitting costume for Kyle, as he's been practicing his scary dragon sounds since he was about 3 months old! The weather was perfect (except for the 10 second sprinkle), and Kyle enjoyed having Nonnie pull him around in the wagon...a dragon in a wagon! We were so happy that Nonnie was able to share in the fun (and chaos) of the day! And amazingly, Kyle slept the entire car ride home...first time that's happened since he was an infant!!

13 Months and Excavation Complete!

Now that Kyle's 13 months old, he thought it was finally appropriate to sprout his other bottom front tooth (4 months after its partner!). You can barely see it, but I felt it with my finger and it's there. So that's his big 13 month news. He's also not the great eater that he once was. He will still eat anything but loses interest very quickly and becomes fidgety and looks around like he wants out of his highchair. That's usually about the same time that he starts throwing his food on the floor. So feeding him has definitely become more challenging, as we knew it would. But I'm sure that he's somehow still getting enough. We've added meatballs and chicken nuggets to his "protein" rotation (along with eggs, and a yogurt everyday). And we even tried giving him black beans, which he liked, but let's just say that his diaper the next morning was like nothing I've ever seen before...

And as you can see in this picture, our lot has been cleared and excavated! The footings should be in by the end of the week and the foundation shortly after that. We can't believe how quickly things are moving...so exciting!!

And what a GORGEOUS day it was today!! Jared, Kyle and I took a walk tonight after dinner...it was almost dark but still so warm. If only every day could be low 70s and sunny...

Yesterday's Highs and Lows

Yesterday was filled with highs and lows.

First the highs...

• Kyle slept until 7:45am!!
• We went apple/pumpkin picking, and they still had Macouns
• We got lobsters for the games, 3 each...yummy and full of meat!!
• It was a beautiful day (which helped make one of the lows a little easier...)
  

And now for the lows...

• The Red Sox morphed into the Sox of old. Maybe next year...
• The Patriots let one get away
• And the low of all lows...I was locked out of the house for over an hour yesterday afternoon! We had just put Kyle down for a nap and Jared left to get the lobsters. I planned on working until the Pats game (while watching the end of the Sox game)...this was one of those days where I basically had every minute accounted for, so it was not a good day to lose an hour. During the commercials before the 9th inning, I decided to put our pumpkin out on the front steps. As I was positioning it, the wind blew the front door shut (locked). I wasn't overly worried because I knew we had a spare key under the deck. So for basically the next hour, I rummaged around under the deck looking for that darn key but to no avail. And the worst part of this ordeal was that I could hear Kyle crying hysterically in his crib...of all naps for him not to play and fall asleep...very sad/helpless/frustrating feeling :( Eventually he fell asleep, Jared returned, and all was well (except for the shock that Papelbon blew the 2 run lead!!). And of course Jared looked under the deck and found the spare key in about 10 seconds...
  

Apple Picking

We went apple picking today at a nearby orchard and were very pleasantly surprised by the abundance of Macouns still on the trees! I absolutely LOVE Macouns and thought we had missed the brief window that they are available. But I guess it was a real bumper crop this year, as we picked 10 lbs in about 5 minutes! Kyle had fun gnawing on an apple (although he wasn't able to break the skin) and he also enjoyed probing apples on the trees with his index finger :) Our neighbor and his 3 yr old son Jack joined us too, which was fun. Maybe we'll go back to this orchard next weekend to pick out our pumpkin (and to stock up on even more Macouns if they're still available!). And what a GORGEOUS day it was today!! It makes me sad to think that days like this are numbered...

And Kyle was great during the Pats game today...played independently for the 1st half and napped for the 2nd half, so we got to watch the game (great win!) with little interruption. The only negative of the day was that Kyle's head cold seemed to peak today, which made nursing near impossible because his nose was 100% blocked. This is his first cold in a while and I had forgotten how sad/frustrating it is when he tries to nurse and can't, and then becomes hysterical with real tears :( He wouldn't drink milk from a sippy cup either, so he basically went the entire day without liquid. But his bath tonight cleared him up a little though and afterward he nursed for a while, which was a relief because we were worried he was dehydrated. My cold peaked yesterday and I feel a lot better today (except for a bad cough). And amazingly Jared still hasn't caught it, knock on wood...

Kyle's 1st Birthday Party!

Kyle thoroughly enjoyed his first birthday party! Ironically enough, his least favorite part was the birthday cake. He did NOT like having frosting all over his hands (as is evident in the photos!). And he didn't particularly like the cake itself...too sweet maybe? The smiling cake pictures are a little misleading...the smiles were the result of me playing peek-a-boo with him (not from eating the cake).

Kyle was not the only one who had cake issues yesterday. I had ordered a Winnie the Pooh cake (that was actually shaped like Pooh) earlier in the week from a local bakery that my co-worker highly recommended. So I was really excited about it until the bakery called at 8:30am yesterday morning to tell me that their oven was broken. She said she tried baking it three different "ways" (whatever that means), but it kept burning. Not wanting to chance it by waiting for her repair guy to show up, we just got a boring cake from Big Y (although I'm glad they came through for us, because they said they usually require 24 hr notice). So the cake wasn't anyone's favorite part of the day!

But aside from the cake, Kyle had fun amidst all the activity and got lots of new toys to play with. The "family only" size party was perfect for this stage...Kyle wasn't at all overwhelmed and just went about his business, with brief pauses here and there to interact with his guests :)

And Kyle had his 1 year check-up on Thursday and, as usual, checked out great! He's 24 lbs 6 oz (75th percentile) and 31.25" (90th percentile...do you think he'll be tall??). And I'm pleased to report that he is now sitting down by himself more often than not, including once in the crib!